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Your Inner Goddess © 2006-08
Faces of the Goddess
SEMELE was the mother of Dionysus by Zeus. Zeus's consort, Hera, discovered the affair when Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, cannot look upon a god without dying, and she perished, consumed in flame. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing him into his leg, and a few months later, Dionysus was born. When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from Hades, and she became a goddess on Mt. Olympus, with the new name THYONE.
SEMELE
